The life and lies of Arnold JPuckett
by someonetostay
Summary: Arnold is a wizard who just graduated Hogwarts, now he must be independent in the wizard world.
1. 1- Edinburgh

Chapter 1 - Edinburgh

Arnold J. Puckett had many secrets. He was a lonesome young fellow, who lived in a town in Scotland called Edinburgh. He lived alone because he was keeping a tremendous secret from his family. Arnold was a wizard.

Being a wizard had taken a great effect to Arnold's life. When he was eleven years old he found a letter addressed to him on the mail desk. The letter was from Albus Dumbledore, who Arnold would shortly come to know as the headmaster at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Arnold was alarmed that the letter declared he was a wizard, but he hardly thought he was different from everyone else. At that time Arnold had been living with his family in a modern house in Aberdeen, that was the last summer he had lived there full time, because he after that he attended Hogwarts.

It had been a hard task convincing his parents to let him go, as his parents were muggles, non magic folk and they thought Hogwarts was a sham. Looking back at his younger self, Arnold remembered Hogwarts as a warm, cozy, and safe castle where he could be himself and learn how to control his magic. At Hogwarts there were four different houses Gryffindor: the brave, Hufflepuff: the kind, Ravenclaw: the intelligible, and Slytherin: the shrewd. Arnold and best friend Johana Ellington were in Ravenclaw together and became inseparable through their time at Hogwarts. Johana Ellington was a lovely girl, with her stylish sweaters and her wonderful laugh, and that's what drew Arnold to her in the first place.

Arnold has graduated Hogwarts. The first thing he did after finishing his education was moving to Edinburgh. He lives in an Apartment in the magical part of town, his apartment is next to a bakery run by a wizard named Dante who is friendly with Arnold whenever he goes to buy a sweet, a bookshop that has books on everything, a curious little store that sells potions, and many colorful houses filled with magical people and wizarding families.

Edinburgh never ceased to amaze Arnold.


	2. 2- Mini Moon

Chapter 2 -Mini Moon

If there was one thing that Arnold dreaded, it would be waking up in the morning. The Pucketts had a great history with sleeping through their alarm clocks, and Arnold was no different. This morning though, Arnold woke up exactly on time because he had a goal, today Arnold will find his own job.

At exactly 6:45 AM he grudgingly woke up. He picked out a dark grey tie, a light blue sweater, and grey pants, he was trying his best to look respectable and classy - he wanted to look like someone you might want to hire. He jumped down the staircase and slid down the empty hallway on his way to the front door.

Arnold quickly decided to head over to the bakery next door to get breakfast, it would be a long day afterall. The Mini Moon Cafe was warm and small. The wooden floors were covered in carpets and the walls had moving portraits and curtains. At one wooden round table sat a couple, the other one had a mother and two children, and another had a mysterious looking man about Arnold's age. In the front there was a display table with exquisite looking pastries.

"Welcome, what can I get you?" Said a young man wearing an apron and a woolen sweater.

"A pumpkin muffin please." Said Arnold.

"Sure one moment please." The young man said. Arnold watched as The man pointed at the muffin with his wand. The muffin flew up and into Arnold's hand.

"By the way I'm Dante, Dante Infierno." He said smiling.

"Arnold J. Puckett." Arnold smiled back, placing four sickles in Dante's hand. Moving towards the back of the shop, he remembered that there weren't any open tables to sit at. He approached the one with the man who looked about Arnold's age.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Asked Arnold.

"Not at all." Said the man. "I'm Chase." He said. Chase had dark skin, large brown eyes, and was wearing a suit- Arnold assumed that he had somewhere important to go afterwards, he seemed like the kind of guy who never made mistakes, the kind of guy who already had his life together, and who wasn't desperately trying to find his way. Chase seemed like the kind of person Arnold hoped he could be.

"I'm Arnold." He said, blushing slightly (Arnold always blushed when he felt nervous.

"What brings you here Arnold?" Said Chase.

"I'm just stopping by here before I go to a job interview, I'm kind of new here in Edinburgh. Arnold said, hoping that he sounded smart and mysterious.

"What job are you looking at?" Asked Chase. Chase had just managed to to ask the one question Arnold did not want to answer.

"Umm, well I don't exactly know yet… I'm just looking around." Said Arnold, his confidence decreasing.

"Well" said Chase. "If you need any ideas, I work as an editor for the daily prophet, and we're looking for some people to help us find new news stories,"

"Great, when can I start?" Said Arnold.


	3. 3- Sol Adichie

Chapter 3 - Sol Adichie

Arnold finally did it! He had a job! Arnold and Chase went to the Daily Prophet offices and got him the job as a researcher. The daily prophet, the wizard news paper, would be a great job for Arnold, and he knew it. One of the perks of his job was that he got to spend more time with his new friend Chase Becker.

There were many secrets Arnold hadn't told his family yet, and apart from a career in magic (he knew his parents wouldn't approve), he also hadn't them he's gay. The only person he'd ever told was Johana, his old friend at hogwarts, and it really surprised Arnold when Chase casually told him that he used to have a boyfriend at his job before working for the Daily Prophet.

It took some getting used too, but soon Arnold became used to his new job. Arnold's day revolved around traveling with Chase to somewhere that the Daily Prophet needed to cover in the paper. Arnold would figure out what was happening, and Chase would send the finished article back to the Daily Prophet. They made a great team.

This day, Chase and Arnold arrived at a magical nature preserve, one that had an endangered species that they were supposed to write an article about.

Sol Adichie's animal preserve was something from an art museum. It was the kind of place that classical paintings were inspired by. Sol Adichie was someone Arnold knew from Hogwarts, he was a gryffindor about a year younger than Arnold. Impressed by the preserve, Arnold asked Sol how about the endangered animal they were looking at.

The creature was definitely magical. It had gleaming gold eyes, black tangled fur, and long feathered wings. It almost looked like a cat, but it almost looked like a bird. It looked very dangerous, Arnold wondered how long this would take.

"We call her Cupcake." Said Sol

"Fitting name." Chuckled Chase.

"What's the name of the species?" Asked Arnold, not wanting to spend more time with "Cupcake".

"It's called a Welltie." Said Sol, Chase quickly wrote that down.

After they collected the valuable information on the Welltie, Chase and Arnold walked around the preserve, they did this to better understand the Welltie's surroundings. The preserve was a dense green forest with green, orange, and purple leaves falling into piles. They followed a cobbled path through the middle of the forest, hoping they wouldn't run into or disturb any magical creature.

While they were on the path Arnold and Chase saw three figures deep in the forest. Curious, and seeing they were human, they started to approach them.


End file.
